CHAPTER 3

The sound of a pin dropping could be heard, such was the silence throughout the Magic Box after Buffy's little bombshell. Buffy had to stifle a grin at the sight of her friends faces. They took the news just like she'd hoped.

Giles, true to form, had his glasses off and was in the process of cleaning them as he muttered, "Oh Dear Lords".

Xander and Riley both had their mouths hanging open in shock. Neither had expected this. And if truth be told, Riley had heard about Jon through the Initiative and was very wary about what the man and Buffy's older brother would do to him.

Willow's eyes were bugging out as she tried to make sense of what her best friend told her.

Anya was just ignoring them and counting the money from the till.

Tara on the other hand had started looking at their auras and Buffy's, she knew that if their auras matched in any short of way, that it was the truth, The Winchesters were Buffy's family.

Finally able to pull himself from his daze, Giles looked at Buffy and asked, "Are you sure?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah," she replied with a grin, "they are my father and my brothers."

As Giles finally took a good and long look at the three Winchester Men, he realized the physical similarities. While John and Sam were tall, nearing six foot, six-two, Dean and Buffy were a good five inches shorter. Buffy and Dean both had dirty blonde hair and hazel-green eyes. The siblings also shared similar facial characteristics, like their mouths and their eye shapes. The more he noticed the more he realized that Buffy was right.

Before he could comment though, Tara spoke up softly, "Sam," everyone turned towards the shy blonde, "have you ever performed any spells or used any sort of telekinesis?"

Sam shook his head, "No, why?"

"W-w-w-well, it's just, I can read auras and yours is extremely powerful," she replied, "I-I think you may have some latent magical talent that you haven't been able to access, yet."

Buffy looked over at her younger brother and noticed he seemed to be in denial. "I can't have any psychic or magical powers. They'd've shown by now…right?" Sam questioned.

Willow, Giles and Tara looked at one another and nodded. "Sam, it's possible for you to not realize your potential until late in life. I didn't know I was able to access the magicks until I was seventeen," she admitted with a small smile, "the first spell I did was a spell to re-ensoul Angelus."

Willow paused in her explanation and gave everyone a sheepish look. She hadn't meant to mention Angel or his demon side, Angelus. Before she could continue, John spoke up after looking at Buffy. He couldn't help but wonder what the story was.

He had first heard of Angelus ten years ago and what he had heard disturbed him. The vampire was the most ruthless and psychotic vampire ever known. He had left a trail 150 years long before disappearing for just over 90 years.

" Willow," John asked the red head, "did you say that you all fought Angelus and ensouled him?"

Wills looked at the other Scoobies, who knew what she was talking about and they all nodded. She looked at her best friend's father and nodded, "Yeah. You see, just over 90 years ago, Angelus killed the favored daughter of the Romany Gypsy Clan and in revenge their elder, she cursed him with his soul. Thing is, there was a clause on it that said if he ever had a moment of pure happiness, he'd lose his soul."

"Ah," John replied, "and you all met him when he was soulless?"

"No dad," Buffy answered, to the surprise of the original Scoobies, "we knew him for a year and a half before he lost his soul. He was/is a warrior for our side, the side of the Good," Buffy finished before stalking out of the front door and walking away, leaving the group behind her in a relatively awkward silence for a few moments.

John after those few moments motioned to Sam and Dean to follow their sister, leaving John to wonder just what Angelus' relationship with his baby girl was. Turning to the most likely source, he turned to the Scoobies and asked point blank, "Look, I know you don't know me or my boys. But you all know my daughter, and you all care for her…could one of you explain things?"

Giles looked at Xander and Willow, who had been there since the beginning and they nodded, prepared to answer any questions they knew Buffy wouldn't kill them for later. As the group got ready to sit down for a long night of talking, no one noticed that Riley had left soon after Buffy, Sam and Dean left.